Also, drove around (in a cab) DC a bit last night, it really has the feeling of a New Rome architecturally. Very imposing, grandiose and believable. Met a lovely guy, physicist working on some missile guidance systems etc, obviously never been anywhere awful like Algeria etc and he believed, sincerely, that America can bring peace, democracy and Disney movies to the whole world, i.e. that the Pax Americana is achievable, sort of a modern Pax Romana. I wanted to point out that the Romans solved their Middle Eastern problems by nailing 5000 people to the walls of Jerusalem but didn't have the heart or how Carthage ended up :) Sampsa